Season 1 (U.S. primetime)
This is the first season of the U.S. primetime version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? premiered on August 16, 1999 to June 27, 2002. This is the U.S. version's season only that lasted continuously for three years. Hosted by Regis Philbin. This long season also divided into 8 mini-seasons: : 1 (August 16, 1999 - August 29, 1999) : 2 (November 7, 1999 - November 24, 1999) : 3 (January 9, 2000 - May 25, 2000) : 4 (May 28, 2000 - October 4, 2000) : 5 (October 5, 2000 - December 21, 2000) : 6 (January 4, 2001 - May 23, 2001) : 7 (June 3, 2001 - September 7 2001) : 8 (September 9, 2001 - June 27, 2002) Lifelines In this long season three standard lifelines used: * 50:50 * Phone-a-Friend * Ask the Audience Episodes For the full list, see List of episodes Trivia * On August 18, 1999, for the first time in the USA, the biggest audience failure took place. On his 11th question, contestant Norman Payne the Ask the Audience lifeline used where 70% voted for the wrong answer, and only 12% were right. * On August 19, 1999, the right order of FFF was ABCD. * Doug Van Gundy is the first contestant, who used a lifeline (Ask the Audience) on his 1st question (the lifeline was later reinstated due to the fact that his first question had two correct answers). Robby Roseman was the next to use a lifeline (50:50) on his first question that he ended up getting wrong. * David Honea is a contestant, who later returned as the final contestant in the August 1999 series due to a bad question. * On November 9, 1999, after contestant Joel Winkelsas uses the "50:50" and "Ask the Audience" lifelines, the audience votes almost equally (49% and 51%). * Mark McDermott is the first contestant in US version who answered the penultimate question wrong. * Tim Shields is the second contestant who answered the $16,000 question wrong because of a research error. He later returned due to the mistake and won $500,000. * Rob Moran is the series' 100th contestant. * Shannon McGehee is the fastest contestant (on January 12, 2000 aired) from San Diego (California), who in the FFF managed to press all the buttons in just 0.87 seconds. She even admitted that she guessed. * Steven Maurice Clark (on April 20, 2000 appeared) is the first African-American contestant in the hot seat. * On May 18, 2000, the 100th episode aired. * Jeremy Conklin and Sal Mecca used all 3 lifelines under $1,000 and still ended up with $0. * On May 18, 2000, June 18, 2000, March 9, 2001, and November 26, 2001, this country had its first ever Fastest Finger First Tiebreakers. * David Goodman (July 11, 2000) is the youngest $1,000,000 winner at 24 years old. * On December 6, 2000, December 7, 2000, January 7, 2001, November 5, 2001 and May 10, 2001, this country has its Fastest Finger First Failures. * According tvtango.com website, the most watched episode is January 20, 2000 (32,500,000 viewers). * On January 10, 2001, the 200th episode aired. * On Rockstar Edition all the remaining celebrities (Howie D., Kevin Richardson, Sisqo, Emily Robison and Chaka Khan), who did not appear in the hot seat are each given $32,000 for their respective charities. * Pete Booker missed his $250,000 question which was later ruled to be flawed. He returned in an unaired segment and walked away with $125,000. * Lori Bailey missed her $125,000 question which was later ruled to be flawed. She returned in an unaired segment walked away with $64,000. * On April 27th, 2001, all three contestants (Jeanne Pomenti, Tom L. Cubbage, and Adam Edgell) who sat in the hot seat reached the $32,000 question without using a lifeline, the only time in the show's run that that many people accomplished that feat during a single episode. * On May 6, 2001, on John Leguizamo's $125,000 question, 58% of audience failed, and 33% were right. * Matthew Sherman is the youngest contestant (May 22, 2001 appeared). * On August 7, 2001, 300th episode aired. * Mark McDermott, Lawrence Caplan, Rudy Reber, Richard Klimkiewicz, David Duchovny, Kati Knudsen, Nick Meyer, Raymelle Greening lost $218,000/missed the $500,000 question. ** That was the biggest amount ever lost on the primetime version, until Ken Basin, the last contestant of 10th Anniversary Primetime Celebration and the primetime version on August 23, 2009, when he lost $475,000/missed the $1,000,000 question. * On December 17, 2001 (Celebrity Edition), Meredith Vieira appeared, who in 2002 became the US version's host. She won $250,000. * John Carpenter, David Goodman and Steve Perry are contestants who saved all three lifelines to Top Prize question, and Moe Cain saved all three of his until the penultimate question. * Robby Roseman and Brian Fodera are contestants who answered the $100 question wrong and walked away with nothing. * Armand Kachigian, and Kevin Smith, winners of $500,000 and $1,000,000 respectively on the syndicated show, were fastest finger finalists on the primetime version. Obviously, neither reached the hot seat. * Brad Bianucci was actually the last contestant to play during the November 1999 run, but his game was never aired due to time constraints. He won $125,000. * Although Gene Simmons and Marion Ross missed their $16,000 and $8,000 questions respectively, $32,000 still went to their charities. * Mia Hamm was the only celebrity to use two lifelines on a question before $32,000 (which she also wound up getting wrong). Intros Sources * List of Season 1 (Primetime) * 1999-2002 season statistics Category:U.S. seasons